Safety shoe



June 17, 1952 E. F. MGLAUGHLIN SAFETY SHOE Filed April 25, 1947 ZPICTJ.

INVENTOR dmcud MCL@ Mn. BY lfm/ r/ Patented .une 17, 19.52

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SAFETY SHOE Edward F. McLaughlin, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application April 25, 1947, Serial No. 743,780

(cl. afs- 77) .1 Claim.

The invention relates to a safety shoe, that is, a shoe provided with reinforcements, mostly oi sheet steel or other metal, for protecting at least parts of the feet of the wearer against injury by objects hitting the shoe.

The most widely used safety shoes have merely abuilt-in dome-like metal toe cap, often called: box toe, which is a concealed, inclusive part of the shoe upper and istformed to the desired toe shape. The protection afforded by such cap extends to about the base of the great toe and to parts of the second and third toes.

The objects of the invention are achieved in part by a second reinforcement,4 guard or protector built into the shoe, extending over the instep region and being spaced from the cap so as to leave the break-line free of reinforcements and permit proper flexing. The break line may also be called the flexing zone and generally coinci-des with the transverse curved line defined by the metatarso-phalangeal joints of a normal foot within the shoe. The instep guard forms the subject matter of the inventors copending application Instep Guard -for Safety Shoes, Serial No. 245,818, led September 10, 1951, as a diVi- `fsion of the present application.

The main feature of the present application resides in a rearward extension of the toe cap at the outer side of the shoe, that is, on the side of the small toe, so as to give further protection to the third, fourth and iifth toes which, by the customary shoe caps are only partly protected or not at all. This means that the corner portion of the box toe wall, which is located at the outside of the shoe, extends rearwardly of the toe end of the shoe farther than the corner portion located at the inside of the shoe.

The shoe with the new cap and instep guard protects the foot of the wearer nearly perfectly. The small gap left for the flexion between the toe cap and the protector over the instep will be Vulnerable only if a pointed object happens to strike in just this gap. However, most foot injuries are caused by heavy, blunt objects and said space would be of no consequence in such accidents. i

In other words: the toe cap or box toe is entirely disposed in advance of the lateral flexing zone of the upper and the break line of the sole and has a transversely arched lrear edge continuously and asymmetrically curved toward the toe end of the shoe, whereby this rear edge overlies the toes of a normal foot Within the shoe and is generally parallel to but in advance of the trans- Verse curved line deiined by the metatarso- 2 phalangeal joints ofpsuch foot. In this manner, the new metal box toe has maximum dimension without limiting the comfortable flexing of the shoe in Wear.

The invention, its objects, advantages and special details thereof will be mor-e fully and easily understood from the several embodiments illustrated in the attached drawing and described hereinafter.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a shoe partly iiexed, indicating in dotted lines theJ arrangement of the new toe cap and instep protector;

Figure 2 is an elevation `correspondingto Figure 1 yet with certain parts shown in section or broken away so as to illustrate the essential features of the construction;

Figure 3 is a plan View of the shoe shown in Figures 1 and 2; and

Figure 4 is a section along line 4-4 of Figure 1.

The invention is illustrated for a shoe having a leather cap I0, a vamp portion II, an ankle p0rtion I2 with lacings I3 of the blucher type, a sole I4 and a heel I5. Inserted between the leather cap I0 and the inner lining I6 is a metal toe cap I'I. The rear margin of this cap extends on the outside rearwardly at I8 as shown by the dotted line in Figure 3 so as to give more complete protection to the toes, especially to the outer toes.

Held between the upper II and the inner lining I6 is a second reinforcing metal band I9 which extends over the foot in the instep region. The f-ront margin 2E) of this band I9 is spaced from the rear margin of the metal cap I I and is also rearwardly spaced from the so-called break-line, that is, the line where the shoe flexes. The rear margin 2| of the instep reinforcement, guard or protector I9 extends approximately across the top of the arch of the foot. In cross sections in planes transversely to the length of the foot, the protector I9 is arched so as to correspond approximately to the form of the top of the 4foot in this region.

The lining I6 is preferably of a relatively heavy and soft material so as to form a lcushion between foot and protector, or additional cushioning material may be provided.

The protector I9 does not constitute a rigid closed-figure structure with the sole I4. In the illustrated embodiments, one or both ends of the protector I9 are not rigidly secured to the sole These brackets are preferably of a hard material, e. g. metal, and are rmly held in place. In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 4, these brackets 22 each have a horizontal arm -23 overlying and secured by rivets 24, to the sole, an upstanding arm 25 extending between the lower part of the protector I9 and the inner lining and a shoulder v26 extending outwardly from the lower part of the arm 25.

Ordinarily, the protector I9 may move up and down rela-tive toftheA brackets 22 fwith the movements of the foot. If the shoe should be hit by a heavy object in the region of the protector I9, the protector will be pushed down and the lower margin of the protector will engage the shoulders-.26, whereupon the protector Will act in the same manner as the toe cap and will Vprevent Vinjury to the foot.

The invention is not restricted .to the illustrated embodiments but is subject to modifications, and protection is sought for the invention as expressedby the spirit andthela'nguage of fthe attached claim.

What is claimed: is:

In a safety shoe, as a concealed inclusive part of its upper, "a "rigid, *dome-like, metal'box toe formed to the' desired toeshapasuch box toe being entirely :disposed-in' advanceof the lateral flexing zone'ofthe'upperand thebrea'k line of the sole and having a transversely arched Lrear edge lcontinuously and asymmetrically curving toward the'toe endof'theshoe; the cornerportion of the box'toewall locatedatthe Uutside'of `the shoe extendingl rearwardly ofthe toe end of :the shoe Vfarther' than `the"corner portion located at 4 the inside of the shoe, and the curved rear edge of the box toe overlying the toes of a normal foot within the shoe and being generally parallel to but in advance of the transverse curved line de- 5 ned by the metatarso-phalangeal joints of said foot, thus providing for maximum dimension of the metal box toe itself without limiting comfortable flexing of the shoe in wear.

EDWRD MCLAUGHLIN.

REFERENCS CITED vrThe following references are of record in the le .f this patent:

LIJ'IIIFIED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,2241655 "Lloyd May 1, 1917 v1,10%;562 Williams Feb. 26, 1929 20 1,826,645 Bergquist Oct. 6, 1931 .1,901,659 `Laraek Mar. y14,1933 Y2,011,143 Burcheld Aug...l3, 1935 .2,068,251 `.Ullrich ,Jan..19,.1937 v'2,279,951 Morein Apr. 14, 1942 25 2,358,474 Pope .Sept..19,.19.44 2,392,867 vlzll'foner-et al.. \Jan. .15,1946 2,393,810 Purinton Jan.. 29, .1946 2,420,239 Hack :May .6,.194'7 n 'FOREIGN'PATENTS Number l:Country "Date 49,585 Norway Nov. '2, "1'931 74,844 Sweden IJan. 24,1931 l858,165 .France.. "May 6,1940 

